Where do you buy your supplies? Ratings?

Wolf41035

Here is one everyone should have some input to....
 
So where do you buy your Pipe smoking supplies and Pipes?
Online?
Local shop?
If Online what good and Bad experiences have you had?
What is the best online place to buy from?
What is the best local shops to buy from?

Wolf41035

I use both online and semi local stores.
Online I used to use Cigars International where I had spent thousands of dollars on Cigars and Pipe supplies but the past 3 orders they have messed up, didn't deliver or had issues with the order getting to me in a timely manner.  Decided after the screwed my third and final order up this month I am done with them!  They screwed up my order for my Saint Patrick's day tobacco's, they back ordered one, didn't send the other, got the back order in then said they had card issues even though they had already charged me and received payment for the order a few weeks ago.....still waiting for my stuff, about to contact the card company and have them get my money back!
As for local stores, I say semi local because none are that close to me, the one that was closest had a small amount of Pipe stuff and more cigarettes and Cigar stuff but now they sold and someone else is running the place and I hear they don't know what they are doing, the quality will go down and the prices will go up, I already left the Cigar lounge due to the ownership switch!
The other place is Strauss, I love it up there, they are GREAT, they have great Cigars and lots of Pipe supplies from pipes, to pipe tools, to pipe tobacco and so on!  Great place but a little further for me to travel and now with not much money left I have to cut back, I had the gift card left over that C.I. has to put money back on and most likely I will use that for fuel so that means no more tobacco for me until I sell some straw or crafts or get my disability......going to be a while! 
Anyway enough from me, tell us about your shopping experiences online or at local stores. 
 

pwkarch

Wolf; I don't know if you or others know this, but Cigars International, Cigars.Com, and Pipes and Cigars ALL have the same address (check your catalogs). I have inquired several times to my cigar guy what the connection was. I was always told they share the same distribution center. Now, most of us know the recent past issues with P&C, and you are relating what seems to be a similar issue with CI. So my question is, if P&C's reported computer distribution system is screwed up, does that affect the other 2 entities?

I have ALWAYS had great service from Cigars.com for years now. I have not ordered any cigars for awhile now (with hundreds "resting" comfortably), so I have no way of knowing if they are also impacted.

I sent a message to P&C some days ago simply asking if their issues are resolved. I have received no answer. Last evening I placed an order with Smoking Pipes again, to discover to my surprise that their prices are significantly cheaper on their products than P&C.....happy that I discovered that. I double checked Cup O' Joes and discovered they too were cheaper than P&C. P&C has what I see as the largest selection, but what good is that if I cannot count on them anymore?

PappyJoe

@pwkarch - that's because they are all owned by the same company. 

PappyJoe

I buy both on-line and with B&Ms. My closest B&M doesn't carry anything but a few factory pipes and bulk tobaccos but has a nice walk-in humidor for cigars. I also visit Mayan Imports in Metairie (suburb of New Orleans) about once a month and always pick up a tin or 2. I will visit Bayou Tobacco in Baton Rouge when I am up there. I don't spend a lot at the B&M, but I support them when I can.

Online, I have ordered from both Pipes & Cigars and Smokingpipes. It depends on who has what I'm looking for in-stock. I occasionally will order from paylesspipes.com when they have a good sale.

Philip

Local guy went out of business years ago so I shop online. Try to spread it around a bit.

P & C seems to have the best selection of tobaccos and I've always gotten very fast service despite their recent problems. I do run into the "out of stock" problem with them more often than I'd like, but it's not too bad. They have very good sales especially the ones like the "End of Summer" sale where I try to stock up. They also send me a ton catalogs which are nice to sit and flip through while enjoying a pipe. I've tossed a million bucks worth of free wine in the trash, if you know what I mean. 

Smokingpipes has a better selection of pipes, in my opinion, and their customer service is second to none. They have a great website and any personal interactions I've had with them have been outstanding. If I had to stick to only one online supplier it would be these guys just for the service alone. Their prices are as good as anyone's and better than most.

I'll throw 4 Noggins in there as well since I do occasionally use them. They have a blend I like that the other's don't carry. They are notorious for being out of stock. If that's unfair I'll take it back in a second, it just seems when I look online and want to order I have to wait. Overall pretty nice company.

Used a few smaller online retailers but none was so great that I stuck with them. Although I wouldn't rule them out either.

Finally, the local Indian Smoke Shop (Native-American cigar store) who used to carry all sorts of pipe tobaccos including Lane products, CAO and Peterson tins have all but cut that out. They have about five jars of bulk on the counter and that's all. Don't even bother to stop in and look around anymore. If you love cigars you would be in heaven. 

Man, I miss the local guy. 

daveinlax

I buy pipes, tampers and other ephemera for the collection where ever I find it.  eBay is my best source but I buy things at pipe shows, online and I have stuff offered to me privately by other collectors.
I buy most of my tobacco at shops I visit a tin or a few ounces every time I stop in.

xDutchx

When it comes to buying brick and mortar, I usually frequent Uptown's in Nashville, TN. and The Briary in Birmingham, AL. Another retailer I have enjoyed visiting while traveling, is Frank Romeo at Romeo's Pipes and Cigars in Bentonville, AR. He has a unique shop, with some great vintage collectible tobacciania, and he is very enjoyable knowledgeable fellow to get to know.

When it comes to online purchases, ebay gets most of my business on pipes, aged tobacco, and vintage collectible tobacciania. As a general rule, I stick with mostly the same sellers, but sometimes I am tempted to take a chance on an item I have been looking for diligently. My favorite ebay sellers are coopersark, treasurepipes, pipestud, great-estate-pipes, and judperl. Over the last 10 years, I have around 800 transactions on ebay, and have only been burned twice, which percentage wise looks fantastic on a graph.

When I buy cigars online, it is almost always Cigars International, but I have also purchased online from Cigar Place, because they have some great pricing. I've never had any issues with either of these retailers.

My go to retailer online for pipe tobacco and accessories, are Smokingpipes.com, and pipesandcigars.com.

I have also purchased several artisan grade pipes from Per Billhall at scandpipes.com, and have always been very pleased with my purchases. Packages from Denmark can take 2 to 3 weeks, but anticipation keeps my mind occupied.

Another retailer I have had great experiences dealing with, is Bobby Nesbitt at twofriendspipes.com. He gives great personal service, and frequently offers some unique new pipes, as well as a nice selection of quality estates.

As a general rule, I don't name sellers who have failed to earn my trust, because I feel that it is in bad taste. If someone is a regular established member here on TPL, I would be willing to relate my negative experiences in a private message.

The reality is, that if you deal with established folks who have been trusted members of the pipe community for years, you will rarely ever have any problems. There are some questionable folks on ebay however, who have infilterated our ranks, and are not to be trusted.

dfrozendog

The locals are gone in my area. That is other than a bar with cigars and five jars of six dollar an oz., heavily misted, "I'm not sure what this is.". There are discount cigarette places with bags of very similar to RYO tobacco called pipe tobacco in abundance. These fine establishments offer some basic codger burlys, but I seldom go with those. Lane products like MV-1000 or CB Gold, RLP6 or CB Reg with a Crown Achievement or something with Lat thrown in once in a while has been my fare.
P&C has been my supplier for over three years without any issue until last month. Now I think I may have double ordered the last order, but what the heck, ultimately thats my fault and I'll use it anyway.
If they can't get it together in another couple of months or so, I will start looking elsewhere.

ghostsofpompeii

I think I may have mentioned before that there are no brick and mortar tobacco shops near me so I have to reply on mail order sources. And until the recent rash of problems associated with Pipes And Cigars I'd have to say they are my main source. And once things seem to simmer down again I'll continue to use them. Some of my favorite blends are Russ' Monthly blends (Warm Up, Spring Break, Snow Drift & Ice Cream Sundae) as well as another P&C blend Out Of Office-"Gone Fishing". I'm sure they are blends that will be gone soon as a result of the FDA Deeming Regulations. But I'm sure I'll have enough of those bulk blends to last a decade or so. I might pick up another fouyr or five tins of 'Gone Fishing' since it seems to be my go-to blend as of late. I have bought a few pipes from 'Smokingpipes' because they were cheaper, but never tobacco. And several years ago I mainly purchased my bulk tobacco from Thompson Tobacco, but they really streamlined their pipe tobacco line and seem to be catering to cigars more than anything else. My next tobacco purchase will be from Boswell ... and it will be my first ... as I plan on picking up a tin of Christmas Cookie and Cupcake.

Hiker007

I am relatively new to smoking. I started first with cigars, and now getting into pipes. I was intimidated at first to go into the local cigar/pipe store and started ordering from the major on-line stores: Thompson, JR, Cigars International, Cigars, P&C. I often look for good deals with free shipping. Now that I have some experience behind me, I have been visiting a local store. Edward's in Lakeland, Fl. I love Edward's!!!! Very friendly, lots of free advice, and a great place to hang out and relax. The other night they had a pipe event. Had free pipe blends to try, free food, and gave everyone a free tin at the end of the evening. The neat thing about the event was most of those that attended were all new to pipe smoking. I hate that I was intimidated at the beginning. I will be increasing my visits to Edward's and giving them as much of my business as I can. I am sure I will continue to look for on-line supper deals, but I need to support the local store to ensure they stay in business. I hate to hear how stores in other areas have gone out of business.

Saintbubbles

I have three local B&Ms but buy primarily online. The local prices are around 150% of online and the selection is lacking. I placed an order with P&C before IPSD and had no problems. I have used some of their sister companies to purchase cigars with no issues. I placed an order with P&C on February 18th and still haven't received it. No response to emails but did get someone on the phone about a week ago. They couldn't look up my order without the computer crashing. I asked them to cancel it but it's still listed as processing. Not sure what's going to happen with it. I'm looking at other online retailers and am probably going to place an order with smokingpipes soon. I've also bought some tobacco from r/tobaccomarket on Reddit with no issues.

Wolf41035

Wow a lot of input here, well I noticed a few comments and questions when it came to my problem and a few others, my issues was not with their system locking up or breaking down, it was with them not paying attention and then them not showing up for work due to the snow they had last week in Pennsylvania, I remember when I had to drive in 2 feet of snow and if I didn't show up I would be fired and that was in Kentucky where we don't see that much snow all the time, you would think in Pa. they would be used to snow and know how to drive in a foot or less?!  I remember back YEARS ago when I was still in school, our bus driver had to plow through snow drifts almost as high as the bus so we could be at school (without even a delay) and now if a snow flake falls from the sky they are calling for an hour delay and if we get an inch school is out.....what happened? Why are they so afraid of snow all of a sudden??  Anyway they held my order due to one item being back ordered, then it was available and they said they had an issue with processing the card but they had already charged the card, all this from what I was reading on the order online because NO ONE has even replied to my 3 posts on their site yet because they are still sitting at home with their hot chocolate....LOL  Anyway I will send a third message to them today telling them to put money back on card when they return to their offices next month and I will not use them again.  I have heard they are all connected, I have heard a couple stories on how though, one is they use same distributor another is they are all owned by same people and another is they are all one but use different names to keep customers that leave one of the others and another is they use different names because different customer bases......what ever it is I will be looking for another place to order that is not connected to them. 
I read a few new places in some comments, I might check them out, also going to do some search engines for Pipe Tobacco.  I am full up on Cigars and wont need more for several years....be dead before then with all this stress.  lol  Time to go smoke my pipe and relax I guess. 
I shouldn't let this crap stress me so much..... 
 
OH Yeah I do support my semi local store Strauss but not often because it is not that close. 

motie2

The closest pipe shop is twenty miles away and they only carry their 22 "house" blends in bulk; no brand name tobaccos. A much closer cigar lounge carries only two tinned tobaccos, but has graciously offered to order whatever I wish.... at a premium price. 

If I do decide to abandon the troubled internet business I've been patronizing, I'll probably go with Smokingpipes.com whose prices are comparable, although the selection is more limited..

ghostsofpompeii

@Saintbubbles At 150% over online prices it sure make it hard to feel sympathy for the local brick and mortar shop forced to close their doors due to competition. I'm all for supporting the local economy and the independent Mom and Pop shops. But when a shop owner is required to mark-up their prices that high - knowingly passing those costs to their longtime loyal customer base - then maybe those loyal customers needs to consider the time is right for an amicable divorce. At some point the dip in your bank account must take precedence over loyalty or near-by convenience.      

Topaz75

This is a bit of a Catch-22 situation. We all like visiting the local tobacco shops and sincerely want them to succeed. Yet, it seems foolish for us to make purchases from them when we can get everything we need online for considerably less money. The inconvenient truth is that we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when the last of these small shops closes its doors. Who's going to support them if we do not?

ghostsofpompeii

Topaz75 It's a shame there can't be a meeting somewhere in the middle. We all want the local Brick & Mortar Shops to succeed. I'd love to have a tobacco shop near me ... but there has to be a realistic ceiling for the store owner to justify convenience and personal service while still a price that's tolerable for their valued customers. I think a 150% increase is a bit too much for many to bear in these economic times. 

xDutchx

The reality is, that there will come a day, when the tax that we avoid paying retail by buying online, will eventually be collected by the government. I am surprised, that it hasn't already happened, with the libby's ruthless efforts to eliminate tobacco from the retail shelf.

It's just another valid reason, to continue to cellar, till you can't cellar any more.

Saintbubbles

@ghostsofpompeii @Topaz75 I want to spend money at my local B&Ms. Buying pipe cleaners, a couple tins or ounces of tobacco and the occasional pipe would be nice but here's the problem besides the 150% mark up. I have three B&Ms within a 30 minute drive from my home. B&M 1 is the closest, specializes in pipes and pipe tobacco and has a big humidor. The problem is they aren't very friendly and don't take good care of their bulk tobacco. I've bought cigars from them in the past and went in to buy a cob and some tobacco. I told them I was new and asked for a Virginia. They sold me the two ounce minimum, cob, a pipe tool and some pipe cleaners. $36 later I'm out the door with barely a thank you and the most sterile transaction I've ever had in tobacco shop. B&M 2 is a specialty cigar shop that has a few C&D bulk blends and six tins of Mac Baren Virginia No. 1. I looked at the date on the tin and noticed it was over a year old. I mentioned that to the guy helping me and he told me he didn't realize pipe tobacco got better with age. Knowledge I had after about three days of research online. I bought one tin. The tin was my first experience tasting an aged tobacco. The Virginia I bought at B&M 1 was the same blend but a totally different experience do to age and storage. B&M 3 is a cross between the other two and it's the furthest from me. Good selection of tins and cigars and one notable difference. The owner and staff are friendly and knowledgeable. It's the only one I've spent more than 30 minutes in and in the future if I spend money locally it will be at this shop. With all that said if your are selling a product I can buy online significantly cheaper you better be knowledgeable make me feel like you want my business even if I'm not a local. I've been to lots of other shop in other states and have never had a bad experience at the others. In my opinion the B&Ms that survive will be the ones that give the best service and experience. Those that make everyone feel welcome and are willing to share their knowledge and experience. 

PappyJoe

@ghostsofpompeii - The biggest part of that 150% is the local and state taxes that the B&M's have to pay, it's not because the owner and employees are raking in the money and putting it in their pockets. Another issue is what I refer to as the "Wal-Mart Syndrome". The major on-line retailers buy in such large quantities direct from the tobacco companies that they get wholesale prices that are exceedingly better than what local B&M's get. On top of that, B&M's usually deal with distributors and the cost of doing that also adds to the wholesale cost of pipe tobacco. 

@Saintbubbles - I didn't know there were any B&Ms in the Lafayette area. If you make regular trips to Baton Rouge visit Bayou Tobacco - it's a great little B&M and the owner is pretty knowledgeable. They also have seating for pipe smokers. Every time I've been in there, there has been two or 3 people smoking pipes. My son lives in Baton Rouge and he buys his pipe tobacco at a little place named Habano Port. It's mainly a cigar shop but they did have a good selection of tins and bulks. Both of those carry good pipes also.

Charles

I have ordered online from both Pipes & Cigars and Smokingpipes.com.  I also purchase locally from Holt's Cigar Shop here in Philly, PA.  Holt's has a great selection of pipes and tobacco but I cannot find there, I most always find at either Pipes & Cigars or Smokingpipes.com.

jim102864

Pipes and Cigars will never receive another penny from me again after my International Pipe Smokers Day experience.  I bought four tins at a discounted price on that day, February 20th. Received two of the tins two weeks later with no explanation regarding the other two unshipped tins.  When I went into my account, the two remaining tins were suddenly listed as "back ordered".  Three unanswered website email messages and three phone calls later, I informed them yesterday to cancel the balance of my order.  Trying to get them to answer the phone is nearly impossible.  I finally reached them yesterday on my 25th attempt.  They're blaming their woes on their "upgraded warehouse management system".  As paying customers, we deserve better than that and they need to do a much better job at crisis management.

I've had good luck ordering pipes and tobacco from Smoking Pipes and Cup O' Joes.  I also have a local B&M that has some tobacco in a pinch.

motie2

As long as P&C keeps sending their instructive and informative paper catalogs, I'll know what to order from Smokinpipes.com.

This whole situation seems insane. P&C had better get a better grip on the situation. 

Wolf41035

Anyone here follow This Pipe Life on Instagram?  They used this Post on Instagram.  lol  I asked if I get a prize for them using my post.....they only replied with 100 in red.  LMAO  I told everyone following that they should join because we have a lot of great people in here and the admins are OK as well......lol

paulwansing

I go to smokingpipes.com now, I used to shop around and generally always found the lowest prices at P&C so I went with them most of the time, of course now P&C would have to pay me to ever bother with them again!  I have been happy with smokingpipes, they usually ship the same day I order and their selection is solid (though why they carry carter hall but not prince albert is a mystery to me.....PA is usually cheapest at smokers outlet.com anyway)

Simple

I purchased my first pipe, a Missouri mershaum hardwood, and an ounce of one of their house tobaccos from Harry's smoke shop here in Philadelphia. They are the only place to get tins. There are a few decent cigar shops but none of them stock anything close to the pipe supplies and tobaccos that Harry's does. Prices very comparable to online stores.

Woodsman

On line mostly,

Wolf41035

Well I sent out a forth message to Cigars International and still have not gotten a reply on any of them, going to call and ask for management later this week, I will never order from them again that is for damn sure. Not from the other companies that are all the same owner either!

Going to demand they put the money back on the card even if they say they still want to ship it, my luck they wouldn't send it for another month anyway, I can use that money for fuel! lol

PappyJoe

@wolf41035 - check to see if they actually charged your card yet. I had an issue with them last summer before all their troubles started where I received all but one tin of an order. Started to complain about it but then I checked my statement and they only charged for what was shipped.

About 4 months later I got an email from them saying my shipment was being delayed because my credit card was denied. I called them and found that they back ordered tin was in and they tried charging it to my credit card but the initial authorization had expired. 

Wolf41035

@PappyJoe yeah the had charged my card, I contacted my card and reversed the charge since they would respond to me about it, I also sent the card company all the letters I had sent to C.I. and showed they hadn't ever replied back, thank goodness it was just a $20 gift card so after they reversed it and I had the money back on it I went right to the gas station and put it all in my truck, good luck to them if they try to charge that card again, as for my other card it is a debit and I have purposely not added anything on it and will be removing it from their site and then closing my account with them! I had sent them several messages and copied everyone of them, they never even opened any of them, the order was placed March 1st, they took the money that day, never shipped, never responded to any messages or sent the order.  Done with them!

Woodsman

P&C seems to be filling newer orders. I think they might have lost some info a few weeks back. They haven't taken anything out of my account yet so that's not a worry.